title: Altered galectin-1 serum levels in patients diagnosed with high-grade glioma.
abstract: High-grade gliomas (HGG) are the most common and most aggressive intrinsic human brain tumors in adults. Galectin-1, a glycan-binding protein that is overexpressed in HGG, has been shown to contribute significantly to the aggressive nature of HGG. It is unknown whether increased galectin-1 expression levels are exclusively found at the tumor site or whether galectin-1 can also be detected in the serum of HGG patients. Galectin-1 serum levels were analyzed in a prospective dataset of 43 healthy controls and 125 patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent HGG. Samples were taken at the moment of surgical resection and/or 2-3 weeks after surgery. Galectin-1 serum levels were determined using an ELISA for galectin-1. Galectin-1 serum levels depended significantly on age and sex in the control group. Age- and sex-adjusted galectin-1 serum levels were significantly higher in all patient subgroups compared to healthy controls with a high discriminative ability that increased with age. We did not observe a significant decrease in the galectin-1 serum levels upon surgical resection of the tumor. Collectively, the data presented here may represent a first step to establish galectin-1 as a biomarker in HGG disease monitoring. Further longitudinal evaluation is required and ongoing to investigate the value of galectin-1 serum levels in HGG patients as an additional diagnostic marker, but more importantly as a predictor of treatment response and prognosis. Furthermore, galectin-1 serum levels could also provide an important tool for the identification of HGG patients that could benefit from galectin-1 directed therapies that are currently under development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, ON1 bus 811, 3000, Leuven, Belgium, tina.verschuere@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Verschuere
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Woensel
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fieuws
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lefranc
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mathieu
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kiss
authors.forename: Stefaan W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Van Gool
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Vleeschouwer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D037483:Galectin 1 / Q000097:blood*; D005910:Glioma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D037483:Galectin 1